Good Day, this is the Commonwealth Report.
News for the public, not the powerful.
Trump Threatens Europe Over Canada, So Why Are Allies Laughing?
Donald Trump just threw a tantrum at two of our oldest allies. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed making Canada the European Union’s first-ever associate member, with Prime Minister Mark Carney beside her. Trump called it laughable, then threatened very heavy tariffs on Europe if he decides it’s a hostile act. Europe just shrugged. France’s European affairs minister, Benjamin Haddad, said, “It is not up to a foreign power” to choose Europe’s direction. Carney called the partnership natural. Trump’s already hit Canada with 50% tariffs and keeps calling it our 51st state. Bully your friends long enough and they’ll find new friends.
Bush-Appointed Judge Breaks Silence, Warns ICE Defiance Threatens Rule of Law
Federal judges almost never give interviews. Patrick Schiltz of Minnesota just did. George W. Bush appointed him, and he clerked for Antonin Scalia. Schiltz told the New York Times that ICE violated nearly 100 federal court orders, some requiring the release of detained immigrants, clogging his courthouse to a near standstill. He blames mostly incompetence and staffing shortages, but says the Justice Department isn’t taking the damage seriously. He spoke out after federal agents killed two American citizens. “The rule of law to democracy is like oxygen to a human body,” he said. When the government ignores judges, nobody’s rights are safe.
Is Putin Using Fake Celebrity Videos to Sink Democrats This November?
Russia’s at it again. Researcher Olga Lautman reports the Kremlin’s Matryoshka bot network has turned on our midterms. In recent weeks researchers found 16 fake videos of celebrities like Julia Roberts, Sarah Jessica Parker and Christopher Lloyd telling Americans not to vote for Democrats. The Russians took real footage, faked the audio and added a CNN logo. The videos call Democrats criminals and pedophiles and push hashtags like AllDemocratsAreCriminals. This same network just targeted Germany, Sweden and France. Lautman warns that Americans repeat it “without realizing that what they are spreading is a Russian operation.” Putin’s picking sides again. Verify before you share.
Trump Explodes After Fed Hikes Rates, So Who’s Really to Blame?
The Federal Reserve raised interest rates Wednesday for the first time in over 3 years, and Donald Trump erupted. On Truth Social he insisted rates should be 1% or less and demanded, “LOWER THE INTEREST RATES FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND FAST!” Here’s what he left out. Inflation’s climbing because of his war in Iran. Fed Chair Kevin Warsh, Trump’s own pick, wouldn’t discuss their conversations and said stable prices help the least well-off most. The national debt passed $40 trillion in August, costing $96 billion a month in interest. Trump lit the fire. Working families are paying for it.
Clowns Confront ICE and City Hall, Can Laughter Beat Fascism?
Activists are fighting the right in greasepaint and red noses, the Guardian reports. Brooklyn drag performer Taylor Horne, known as Tillie the Clown, spent two hours on makeup and waited 10 more to speak for three minutes at New York’s City Council. When opponents mocked the costume online, Horne said they’d fallen right into the trap. Horne teaches anti-fascist clowning and says jesters had “the privilege to speak truth to power, to speak to the king without consequence.” In San Francisco, Kendra Ferguson juggles and makes balloon animals outside immigration court and helps watch for ICE near schools. Tyrants can’t stand being laughed at.
Every Opening Act Quits Ed Sheeran’s Tour Over Macklemore’s Silencing
Ed Sheeran has 10 U.S. shows left and nobody to open them. Rapper Macklemore shouted Free Palestine at MetLife Stadium while introducing his protest song Hind’s Hall. Then Patriots owner Robert Kraft, a billionaire, barred him from Gillette Stadium, and promoters dropped him from the American dates. Sheeran says it wasn’t his call. So Aaron Rowe, Lukas Graham, Finneas and even Sheeran’s house band Beoga all walked off in solidarity. Finneas wrote, “Artists must not be silenced when they speak up for the oppressed.” The next show’s Saturday in Philadelphia. When billionaires decide who gets a microphone, free speech belongs only to them.
And that’s the way it is, Today Thursday, September 17, 2026. I’m Thom Hartmann.
